A new book by the writer whose poetry did much to inspire the use of the name 'Anna' for this ministry among older people.
I must declare an interest in that I was at school with Nicola Slee in North Devon. Our paths crossed again a few years ago when she came to give a talk in Winchester at one of the city-centre churches. I have been reading her books ever since.
While her latest, Fragments for Fractured Times: What feminist practical theology brings to the table (SCM Press, 2020), may not be for the general reader, it has much to say about aspects of the church many regular churchgoers might be unaware of.
Her chapter on being part of a delegation visiting women who had been victims of rape during periods of conflict is harrowing and heart-breaking to read.
I am a big fan of Nicola Slee's poetry and, indeed, it was her poem 'Anna' about the prophetess who found a new way of living in her old age within the temple precincts in first-century Jerusalem, which largely led to us choosing the name Anna for our ministry.
You might like to read student Sally Rush's review of the book which has motivated her to press on with her studies inspired by academics like Nicola Slee, and others, making the case for more diversity and understanding of those who feel themselves marginalised inside and outside the church.
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